132 Miscellaneous. 



view : " The numerous dermal canals," he writes, " which run 

 close beneath the cuticle and hypodermis, are undoubtedly of 

 greater value for respiration and offer a far larger surface for the 

 direct transmission of oxygen to the coelomic fluid than the entire 

 vascular system" *. The integumentary canals, as has been shown 

 by Vogt and Yungf, are in connection with the general body- 

 cavity, of which they are evaginations, so that their contents are 

 met with again in the ooelome ; they are found in the integument 

 of almost all species of the genus Sipuncidus. I believe that I 

 have discovered a confirmation of this view in a specimen of Sipun- 

 culus mundatius, Seleuka and Biilow, which was obtained by Herr 

 Passler near Esmeralda, in South America, and handed over to the 

 Hamburg Natural History Museum. 



This worm at once excited my astonishment by the possession of 

 long, tuft-like processes from the integument of the middle portion 

 of the body, such as I had never observed before in a species of 

 Sipunculus. These structures are from 1 to 1| mm. in length, and 

 are consequently distinctly visible even to the naked eye. On 

 examination with a lens it is seen that these appendages are 

 situated upon linear elevations of the integument, which are 

 inclined at a somewhat acute angle to the longitudinal axis of the 

 body. Transverse sections showed that the tufts in question are 

 prolongations of the integumentary cavities which traverse the 

 cutis. Their contents are the same as those of the cavities, and 

 they possess a very thin skin, so that I do not hesitate to regard 

 them as organs of a branchial nature. They correspond in shape 

 to the pectinate gills of the body-segments of certain Annelids. 

 ' I have observed similar conditions in the case of Sipuncidus 

 australis. Kef., which differs from all other species of the genus 

 Sipunculus in the possession of wart-liko papillae on the proboscis 

 and in the glans (Eiehel), which have hitherto been termed " dermal 

 bodies " (" Hautkcirper "). Dermal bodies, however, are always 

 packed with glauds or else with nerve-layers, while the warts of 

 Sipunculus australis contain extraordinarily wide integumentary 

 canals, or even several of these structures, and are consequently 

 in no way comparable to true dermal bodies, but might rather 

 be interpreted as rudimentary branchial processes. — Zoologischer 

 Anzeiger, xvii. Jahrg,, no. 457, September 24, 1894, pp. 333-335. 



* [Ward's actual words are : — " The numerous dermal canals close 

 under the hypodermis of (S". 7iudus are unquestionably of great value in 

 respiration, and the region of the introvert, which is distinguished by 

 thin cuticular and muscular layers, actually not so thick as the walls of 

 the tentacular fold, presents a far greater surface for the transmission of 

 oxygen directly to the coelomic fluid thau the entire vascular system " 

 (loc. cit. p. 164).— Transl.] 



t Vogt and Yung, ' Lehrbuch der prakt. vergl. Anatomic,' Bd. 1. 



